Strangest thing you have ever got into trouble for at work?

[NoEffingWay]

Not 'looking like I was listening in a meeting'- I was actually listening and was able to recite information but apparently that wasn't good enough!

For 'not having a degree'- I was a Saturday girl in a shop, I was 16 at the time.

For 'being tired'-I had a baby at home and was getting up at 4am to look after them so wasn't feeling well rested but was expected to pretend I was energetic .

For leaving my desk to be given my leaving card and present on the last day of a job, presented by the dept head

i got my pay docked by an hour to cover the time I wasn’t working by an absolute piece of work manager who took it as a personal slight whenever anyone left

I had two pairs of jeggings - one dark blue and one black.told not to wear the blue.

I was asked to put a pin in my ill fitting company provided overall (it gaped a bit at the bust), because it was a distraction to some of the men in factory, I told my female manager, if the said men (including male managers) were paying attention to their jobs, and took their eyes of my cleavage I would not be so distracting 😡

For applying for a promotion.

Not walking humbly enough. I was an eighteen-year-old clerical assistant in the Civil Service and clearly didn't know my place. I was also a pretty girl and what really annoyed the office manager was that some of the old men'professional staff' opened doors for me.

My boss emailed me on my day off telling me off for leaving an empty coke can on my desk. Apparently I really upset the cleaner.

technically for ‘lying’ about doing all the weekly cleaning tasks in an afternoon as no one works that fast’. I was a cleaner in a previous role (they knew this) and could turn over a hotel floor between breakfast and dinner, I knew how to clean and clean fast.

CCTV showed me doing all the jobs.
even the takings for the day were down and showed it was a slow day.

I think my supervisor was just pissed off i did all my workload, baked extras for the week to freeze/thaw as needed and got the weekly’s done putting his slow arse to shame.

I work in a care home, looking after the residents in the dining room and lounge. I've been told off for giving a resident a back rub when she was in pain, for feeding a resident her meal, for not feeding the same resident her meal, for leaving the room to get a resident some breakfast from the kitchen when I'd been told to go and get her some breakfast, for not leaving the room to get a resident her breakfast, for not doing the half hourly checks on the residents in their rooms (not my job) when I couldn't leave the dining room because there were residents there who needed safeguarding, for asking someone else to safeguard so that I could do the half hourly checks, for writing up the half hourly checks without actually checking because I couldn't leave the room, for not taking someone to the toilet, (not my job), even though I couldn't leave the room, for leaving the room to take someone to the toilet, for giving blankets to residents who were cold, for not opening the windows when it was cold and I couldn't give people blankets, for not breaking safety rules I'd been told to break, and for breaking safety rules the person telling me off broke all the time, and told me to break. All by the same person. I ignore her now.

My colleague was told off for standing up and looking at the nursery teacher in our morning meeting. I was the only other member of the team sitting down. Everyone else was standing up.

it was really ridiculous.

Blocking out travel time in the boss’s calendar before an important off site meeting… 🤷🏾

@Sprogonthetyne was this in Southampton? Most of the city have a relative on the Titanic. My DH is related to a Titanic survivor. I’m not offended but it is strange to think about how it is flippantly mentioned (I have probably said stuff myself) as a cultural reference as it’s really not that long ago. It would be a bit odd if people were making light hearted reference to a tragedy like Grenfell 85 years from now. (Obviously you were miss heard and didn’t actually say anything about it)

So many things. Making a cup of tea for a tradesman, not cancelling my wedding because work forgot I had booked the time off, typing too loudly, asking to be paid for overtime, leaving on time, leaving too enthusiastically, asking to be paid for sick days when my contract stated I should be paid, not staying longer than my notice period.

Not all one job but it's no wonder I haven't progressed with those employers.

I have also been disciplined for not doing the rest of my colleagues’ tasks when I was on holiday.

When I pointed out that I was on holiday and we all have our own week when we complete said task (and mine had been completed before I left), I was told that I had been nominated to do it all the time.

News to me.

I have kept the email one of my colleagues sent. It kindly pointed out that I had neglected to do it before I went on leave and that they would see that I dealt with it on my return.

For having tattoos on show and "an unnatural hair colour". Director in question wanted HR to tell me to dye my hair and wear long sleeves and thick tights even in the middle of summer. They told her to jog on.

Worked somewhere that shop floor operators (shift staff) were on fixed times but office staff and management (non-shift) were on flexible times. I was told by HR "you shouldn't arrive at 9am because it gives the impression to shift staff that you're always late. Morning shift leave at 2pm so don't see that you also stay until 5.30pm so they've been making comments" Erm..... and? Tell them to mind their business?

Same HR Manager also told me off for not "looking" like I was listening in meetings.... despite (like the OP) that I had notes and recite what was being discussed.

Me too! I smiled too much for Sunday mornings. She had noticed over a few weeks that I smiled so concluded that I must be the sort to go straight to work from a night out and still be drunk.
I was just trying to be a friendly face.

I was once told off by a boss for sending an email he asked me to send, to a person he asked me to send it to.

Apparently he 'relies on [me] to push back'... Okaaaay.

Sending sensitive documents to the wrong person. I'd posted it to the address the customer had written on the form for where they wanted to receive documents...but apparently I was supposed to know they'd written the wrong address.

Oh I forgot, taking two weeks off when a member of my household had covid symptoms in March 2020. The best part - I worked for the NHS.

During a training course, I got up and got coffee and a biscuit from the back of the room. Apparently I was only meant to do that at set times, bit nobody had told me. It was only afterwards, a bunch of women had apparently complained (from a different department, same company) and my manager made me write a grovelling apology letter.

Same place, got sexually harassed (coworker unprompted texted me that he wants to copulate with me on the kitchen table at work 🤮) told a coworker and got told off for talking about it. Apparently it wasn’t fair to the man who sexually harassed me to talk about him behind his back.

It was a care home and it was the most toxic place I’ve ever worked in 20 years, there was constant humiliation from some coworkers and mangers.

Ah it was the opposite for me, my first full time job at 15 in Botswana, in a restaurant and then a nightclub, I was constantly told to smile.

Not in Southampton or anywhere near, and as I said the conversation had absolutely nothing to do with the titanic, it just mentioned ice caps in relation to global warming/ eco steps, as the manager knew. Obviously actually comments or joke would be in poor taste.

He objected to the mention of ice in any context during that week, including things like asking colleges to bring back iced tea from cafe, I asked for clarification as it seemed so utterly batshit.

I made £9m on black Wednesday with my foreign currency hedging, selling my hoard and re buying. To be told later in the month I wasn't allowed to speculate

Got a major-league bollocking for displaying an item that we didn’t normally stock whilst on overnight shelf filling.
only thing was, I couldn’t possibly have done it, I had only returned to work that night after a fortnights hols. My bitch boss ranted at me in front of customers and staff and wouldn’t listen.
Number 6 zillion of her instances of bullying and vile behaviour. I proved her wrong about this particular accusation and walked out on the spot, causing her to be investigated (yay!)

She ruined so many employees lives, lied about them and drove them from their jobs, a truly horrible individual.

I waited years, and last summer, got the news I had been waiting so long for….
She died.

For throwing away a vat of jam that had a dead fly in it (I should have spooned it out)

For leaving early. Bitch manager told me to then denied it to owner.

For not being able to cover the phones on my day off.

For not saying I was pregnant until I was ready

For serving customers which involved walking behind the desk the manager was working at.

I worked in a field similar to Child protection for a while, I had about 20 yrs experience in CP and DA, so have a fair idea of thresholds etc.
I got dragged through the mill for making a referral to SS, apparently I should have informed a manager (I was the manager), and it wasn’t serious enough according to another manager who wasn’t even Social work trained. It went on for 6 months, until I got solicitors involved.